We're an Item?
by peacefulsands
Summary: Jensen realizes that perhaps there is more to this 'thing' he has with Cougar now.


**Title: We're An Item**

**Fandom :** The Losers

**Rating** : PG-13

**Word Count :** approx. 3000 words

Written for lily-zen's prompt : _The Losers, Jensen/Cougar, he never batted an eyelash when some of Cougar's clothes found their way into a drawer or when an extra toothbrush made a home in the holder next to his; it was when Cougar brought over his guitar and scorebooks that he realized 'holy fuck, we're living together; this is a Relationship.'_

This story was written for lily_zen as part of a Secret Santa Gift Exchange.

**Disclaimer** : All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

** ***** THE LOSERS ***** **

**We're An Item? **

"So are you going to marry Uncle Carlos now?"

Those were seriously not the words Jensen expected his niece to say as she turned from watching one of the Lilo and Stitch movies on the TV. Startled he looked up sharply and caught his sister's eyes and saw that she was trying hard not to laugh.

"Marry Uncle Carlos?" he asked, tentatively, "Why would you ask that?"

"Well, you're boyfriends, right? And you live together, so you can get married . . . you know, if you want to . . ."

"Boyfriends . . . live together . . . married . . ."

"I don't mind wearing a dress to be a flower girl, but don't expect me to wear one all the time . . . just special occasions like that."

Jensen nodded, terrified to do any more than that and find out where else his niece's mind might go. She looked back at the screen, giggling. "I love this part. 'Shut up with all your not shutting up!'" she imitated von Hamsterviel's voice before collapsing into another fit of the giggles, all talk of flower girls and weddings seemingly forgotten.

Jensen looked back at his sister, who smiled and nodded, then added, "So now you know, she'll wear a dress for your wedding. If you ask nicely, I might even be willing to give you away." She grinned at the look of horror on his face, then turned her attention back to the laptop she was poking at on her knee.

Jensen sat quietly, eyes on the movie although his attention wasn't on it, until it was time to make lunch. He stood and headed for the kitchen, not overly surprised when his sister followed him in there. "What's the matter, Jake?" she asked seriously. "You've not been yourself since she asked about you and Cougs getting married . . ."

"She thinks we're boyfriends and we live together!" Jake hissed, looking over his shoulder to make sure his niece was still occupied in the other room, now playing with her Barbie and having her do Army maneuvers under the couch before scaling the side of the stereo system.

"Aren't you?" she sounded surprised. "I mean I get that maybe marriage isn't on the cards, but I thought you and Carlos were pretty serious there."

"Well . . . I guess, I mean . . . I don't know . . . I mean," Jensen sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know what we're doing," he shrugged, "And I'm pretty sure that Cougs hasn't given it any thought."

She shook her head sadly, "Jake, I'd give that some real thought before you say anything about it to Carlos. You might end up really hurting his feelings."

Jensen frowned and turned away, reaching for a loaf of bread to start making sandwiches.

"Jake! I'm serious. You need to think about this from your point of view before you go saying anything to Cougar . . . I'm serious here . . ."

"You've already said that," he replied sulkily. "I'll think about it . . . pass me . . . whatever you want on your sandwich from the fridge."

******* THE LOSERS ***** **

His sister and niece had gone and Jensen was wandering around his apartment on his own. With a sigh, he thought of all the things he ought to do. He'd cleaned up knowing his sister was coming round, so the bathroom, kitchen and lounge were all looking pretty respectable, but that didn't say anything about the bedroom and the cupboard where he hid the laundry in a sack at the bottom and the ironing on the shelves. He also ought to go out and pick up some groceries, supplies were running low and . . . there was always the luring temptation of his laptop, but no, he was a grown up now with an apartment; as in he no longer just crashed at his sister's whenever he was home.

He figured starting with the laundry was probably the best idea, at least that way something would be happening while he decided what to tackle first. He opened the cupboard door and reached for the sack, surprised at how light it was and trying to think back to when he'd last done the laundry or whether he'd hidden it all somewhere else. Nothing was coming back to him, so he took what there was over to the washing machine and sorted through it, relieved that it was enough for just one load and everything could go in together.

Feeling unduly pleased with himself, he headed for the bedroom next. He should start with the en-suite bathroom, because he'd ignored that in favor of cleaning the one his sister and niece might use while they visited. He looked round, towels neatly hung, clean and dry – not the leftovers from his shower this morning, and surfaces all wiped clean, taps sparkling. For a moment he was tempted to think that there had either been a cleaning fairy that he knew nothing about or he was developing some kind of split personality that liked cleaning. Then his eyes settled on the toothbrush holder . . . two toothbrushes. . . Cougs . . . He'd bought the second brush, given it to Carlos one evening along with some of the brand of toothpaste he preferred when he'd been debating whether to stay over or not. It had solved the dilemma for that evening and the next time he went shopping he'd bought some of Carlos' favorite shower gel and a spare bottle of his cologne.

That had been the real beginning of him staying over regularly and it wasn' t like Jensen could complain, after all he'd instigated it.

Not that he wanted to complain.

He liked it . . . he'd never really been on his own before and Cougar was . . . Cougar was familiar and friendly, not easily put out by Jensen's quirkier habits. He sighed. He liked Cougar being around to keep him company, but living together . . . he wasn't sure he was ready for that.

He glanced round the en-suite again and came to the conclusion there was nothing that needed to be done in there, so instead turned his attention to the bedroom. The bed was made, proper uniform corners, clean sheets and there were no stray socks on the floor, dirty or clean. In fact . . . Jensen stared at the room . . . there wasn't a thing out of place at all. The only thing it appeared to need was a vacuum – the work of minutes rather than hours. The cleaning fairy had hit again.

This Jensen could be absolutely certain he hadn't done. After all, when he'd got up this morning, he'd left Cougar in bed so there was no way he'd had time to change the linen and tidy up. It would have been impossible. Cautiously he opened the closet door, fully expecting a pile of things to fall out at him that he'd hidden in there . . . Nope, it was all neat, military neat, never Jensen's strongest point. He could do it, had had to do it for years, but it wasn't his natural inclination. He was too easily distracted by other things that he could be doing.

He frowned. There were a pile of jeans, a pile of pants, dress pants and uniforms were hung neatly, everything else organized logically, except one small pile on the smallest shelf. He reached up and lifted it down, eyes widening as he realized what it was . . . a pile of Cougar's clothes!

Carefully he put them back, bit his lip and looked guiltily over his shoulder. He was still alone. He took a step back, closed the closet door and turned around to survey the rest of the terrain. He eased his way across to the chest of drawers. He opened the top drawer . . . all as he expected (apart from the full aspect – there seemed to be almost all of his underwear in there – clean) Cleaning Fairy strikes again!

The second drawer . . . nothing out of place.

Bottom left . . . Clean t-shirts . . . all his.

Bottom right – Almost empty as opposed to full to exploding with the expected spare leads and cables for his gadgets. Not a single lead, cable, clip, battery pack, usb – nothing technically related at all. Just three neatly pressed and folded t-shirts that were far too subtle to have any remote possibility of belonging to Jensen, given that they also weren't army issue! Cougar!

It suddenly occurred to Jensen that perhaps the elusive cleaning fairy might also have something to do with Cougar, which was in truth a far less worrying possibility than that of him developing a split personality who liked cleaning and military precision with everything. That really would be scary!

******* THE LOSERS ***** **

Jensen was sprawled on the couch pondering what to do next. The apartment was tidy or as good as. He'd found the cables that used to be tangled in the drawer in the bedroom were now neatly coiled with a wrap around each to stop it tangling with the others in the usually empty bottom drawer of the desk with his computer on. He had to be honest, it made a lot more sense. He wasn't sure how long it was going to stay so organized but still he appreciated the effort.

He hadn't found anything substantial to do and was just waiting for the laundry to finish before heading out to pick up some groceries. He wondered where Cougar was. Grocery shopping was much more fun when they went together and had the added advantage of them coming back with more or less everything they needed as opposed to Jensen's usual somewhat haphazard method of flitting round the store and throwing things into his basket as they popped into his head.

Nope, new leaf, he decided. Today he was going to write a list before leaving. He pushed himself up and went into the kitchen. He started in the fridge. Milk, butter, eggs . . . all went on the list . . . cheese, salad, soda. He closed the fridge door and scribbled pizza on the list followed by Cougar in brackets to remind himself to get the type Cougar preferred. He moved across to the cupboards, going through each in turn and noting down items that were low – both types of cereal, Jensen's high sugar and Cougar's muesli, coffee and beer.

He was just finishing the list when he heard the front door open and he headed out to greet Cougar. "Hey dude," he said, grin wide and welcoming. "Where have you been all my life?"

Cougar gave a dry smile and a shake of his head. "How was your sister?" he asked.

"Oh, good," Jensen replied, trailing after him as he made his way into the kitchen. "Umm, what are you doing?"

"Your fridge was almost empty, so I picked up bread and milk to last until your next grocery run."

Jensen smiled, "Thanks, dude. I was thinking of going later this afternoon, wondered if you wanted to come too? Maybe?"

Cougar laughed. "I'm sure you can manage without me," he said, ignoring Jensen's attempts to sidle closer and coerce him into agreeing. He slid round Jensen and made his escape to the far side of the table, smirking at the pout on Jensen's face.

"Did you get the last of the washing done?" Cougar asked.

"Yeah . . . You put the rest in? I did wonder . . ." Jensen replied.

"Who else would it be?" Cougar frowned as he tried to figure out why Jensen would ask.

"Cleaning fairy . . . me with a split personality. . . I dunno, there's a fair number of possibilities . . ."

Cougar laughed and shook his head. "Seriously? A cleaning fairy or a split personality occur to you before me?"

Jensen shrugged. "Thanks? I appreciated it. Even more when I knew I didn't have a split personality."

Cougar shook his head again, still chuckling as he crossed the room and kissed Jensen's cheek, "Eres un idiota. Tienes suerte de te quiero de todos modos." (You're an idiot. You're lucky that I love you anyway.)

Jensen grinned and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Cougar pushed him away and said, "Go! Food now! Go or we won't be able to go out with Pooch and Jolene later."

Jensen sighed, picked up his wallet and keys and headed for the door, perking up as Cougar began to follow him. "No, I'm going home," Cougar said, squashing any hope that he was accompanying him to the store.

******* THE LOSERS ***** **

Jensen trailed dejectedly round the aisles in the supermarket, picking up jars, boxes and packets, reading the labels then setting them down again. Shopping wasn't anywhere near as much fun without Cougar. He looked down at everything he had put into the cart so far. All things that Cougar liked . . . well almost, the Swedish fish wasn't so much for Cougar if he was honest.

He made it to the checkout quicker than usual and with no idea whether he'd got everything he needed. He paid and made his way out to the car, driving home, thoughts still on Cougar.

Back home, he put everything away and sat on the couch, head down on his hands, elbows resting on his knees. The apartment was quiet, lonely when he was here on his own. He thought of his sister's house, always bustling and lively with his niece and her friends. He thought of Pooch and Jolene's house, warm and smelling of baking, alive with the noises of family, cluttered with all the minutiae of Pooch's latest projects and Jolene's crafts. He thought of Cougar's apartment, small and dark, but warm, all Cougar's belongings that hung about the place, his guitar and music, his CDs and books, his photographs on the walls.

He looked around his own apartment – apart from his tech stuff, his laptop and gadgets there was nothing to make this a home. It was larger, brighter than Cougar's but it wasn't a home – not yet. Things were missing . . . Cougar's things . . . That's what it needed : Cougar's photographs on the walls, his CDs alongside Jensen's and their books all mingled together on the shelves.

There was space in the corner for Cougar's guitar too . . . In fact the whole apartment had space for Cougar, particularly if he rearranged a few of the drawers and the closet in the bedroom. He pushed himself up to his feet and dashed into the bedroom. He pulled out all of the drawers in a sudden burst of energy and began to rearrange everything, squashing his t-shirts tighter and squeezing his socks into the same drawer as his underwear. With a smile on his face, he put the drawers back into their places, half of them now empty and waiting for Cougar's things.

He started to get ready to go out.

******* THE LOSERS ***** **

A few beers in and Jensen was beginning to feel buzzed. The couple of shots he'd had for courage were helping. Jolene and Pooch were up dancing to the band and it was just him and Cougar at the table.

"So . . . Cougs . . ." Jensen started, before falling silent again. Cougar looked at him, waiting. Jensen tried again, "I was thinking . . . you know . . . maybe . . ."

Cougar smiled, "What, Jensen? What were you thinking?"

"We don't need two apartments," Jensen suddenly blurted out.

Cougar frowned, clearly uncertain what Jensen was talking about.

"You and me, we don't need two apartments, we could live in just one . . . you know together . . . mine probably but just because it's bigger, not because I don't like yours, but if you don't like mine, I could come live with you except you haven't invited me or we could get a totally new one, like somewhere different, ours, not yours or mine or –" Jensen spluttered to a stop as Cougar leaned across and kissed him on the lips, slipping a hand behind his neck to hold him still.

Jensen looked slightly dazed when Cougar drew back enough that they could draw breath and their eyes met, the smirk in Cougar's clear. "Are you asking me to move in?"

Jensen nodded, biting his lip nervously.

Cougar pulled him closer again, whispering "Yes," before kissing him thoroughly again.

******* THE LOSERS *******

Cougar was in the kitchen making coffee while Jensen and his niece battled on the X-box, his sister sitting behind them with her I-pad reading Magnificent Seven fanfic.

He wandered in a few minutes later with a tray of cookies and drinks, handing out the drinks and setting the plate of cookies on the coffee table before sitting down alongside Jensen.

The game came to an end with Jensen admitting defeat and accepting a hug from his niece by way of consolation. She curled up on his lap, reaching for her can of soda as Jensen flicked through the channels on the remote before coming up with a Disney movie to watch.

"So Uncle Carlos . . ." she waited until the other man looked up at her. "Has Uncle Jake asked you to marry him yet?"

**-THE END- **


End file.
